The big variety of fruits that we currently enjoy is a good reason to have some wonderful cake, isn’t it. At Grain de Sel – Salzkorn, I lately discovered a very nice recipe for tarte rustique that I have re-baked several times already with a few little changes. You will find the original version (in German language only) here– thanks a lot for the inspiration, Micha!
My mirabelle plum jam is a very good addition to the cake. I love those little fruits, not the least because when hiking the Taunus region in summer, we always find lots of bewildered mirabelle plums on some abandoned orchards. This year, season for nearly all sorts of fruits has started early, and I fear it will be too late for a nice harvest when we will arrive for this year’s visit in the region. But fortunately, mirabelle plums can currently be found on farmer markets in Berlin as well.

Berries & apricot tarte

You can choose any fruits that are in season right now, and the tarte profits a lot from some additional decoration with fresh fruits on top after baking. Micha has mixed the fruits with some vervain which is surely gorgeous, but since I couldn’t get my hands on this herb so far, I chose mint & roasted pine nuts. As for the goat’s milk cream-cheese, I recommend to choose a not too mildly flavored sort – a slightly stronger taste will add a nice twist to your tarte. You can of course make one big tarte instead of two smalls, and instead of a baking tray, you can use a tarte form.

Mix all ingredients up to apple vinegar (including) and knead a soft dough. Put in plastic wrap and rest overnight in the fridge – wholegrain needs some time to develop its flavors.

Next day, let the dough reach room temperature again (takes about 1 h), divide in two parts and on a slightly floured baking paper, roll two circles each of 1/2 cm in heights. Spread the jam on the dough circles and leave out a proper rim in doing so. Do the same with the ground pistachios.

Clean the fruits and mix with mint, starch, 1 tbsp. sugar, and the ground almonds and evenly arrange on the two dough circles. Fold in the rims in little waves. Wipe the remaining flour off the baking paper and carefully pull the paper with the two tartes on a baking tray. Coat the rims with a little milk, cream or egg yolk and spread the remaining sugar on the fruits. Put in the preheated oven (180 °C, gas) for about 40 minutes. Near the end, pay close attention to keep the tartes from burning on top, eventually cover with heat-proof kitchen foil.

Cool down the tartes completely, decorate with the remaining fresh fruits and the roasted pine nuts. The tarte’s taste oscillates appealingly between the doughs slightly salty and savory touch and the sumptuous fruitiness inside.

* Mirabelle plum & Aperol jam

My dear friend with a garden has promised me a glass of mirabelle jam with vanilla, so I wanted to try something else with my mirabelle leftovers. Since a bottle of Aperol is currently on the fridge to serve friends every now and then with some welcome Spritz, I thought this might be a nice addition to the jam, too. It turned out a true match, especially with some mint.

Ingredients for 2 jars à 260 ml:

450 g mirabelle plums
250 g raw sugar
1 heaping tsp. agar-agar

juice of 1/2 lemon
75 ml Aperol
1 heaping tsp. dried mint

Preparation:

Put the cleaned jars, lids and rubbers in boiling water for two minutes and let air-dry on a clean kitchen towel.

Take the pits off the fruits (works best with a cherry pitter). Mix agar-agar with a bot of cold water and add to the fruits, as well as all other ingredients. Boil up and cook for two minutes. Near the end, take off the foam and the little fruit skins that will now appear on the cooking jam’s surface using a skimmer. Pour the boiling hot jam into the jars and close the lids. If you use twist-off jars, turn upside down for five minutes and then turn back.